Orca Labs

08/30/2022

We are fully stocked up now to meet the growing demand for NitraGuard! Our most popular product has been the NitraGuard Titanium Biocubes to naturally reduce nitrate. Go to our website (link in bio) to order now while we still have a full inventory. DM us with any questions!

02/07/2022

Gorgeous Giant Nudibranch (Dendrotnotus iris) we encountered in beautiful British Columbia, Canada. Gloved hand for scale!

01/06/2022

It’s again! This gorgeous wild-caught leopoldi stingray (Potamotrygon leopoldi) image was shot underwater in an aquarium exhibit. These are very active and friendly rays who really pay attention to their keepers and like to learn and interact! Sort of like the Labrador retriever of the ray world. As they mature, typically their spots turn more into white donuts than spots. They are from the Rio Xingu in Brazil and their diet in the wild is usually snails that they can crush with their powerful jaws.

10/07/2021

A gorgeous Chevron Tang (Ctenochaetus hawaiiensis) doing what they do best- grazing algae.

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09/28/2021

The underwater scenery snorkelling among sword plants and Piraputanga (Brycon hilarii) in a Brazilian river. It feels like paradise to snorkel there!

🌎 Bonito, Brazil, South America

piraputanga

09/21/2021

Goniopora gone… calm. Purple tang videobomb.               **er                **er                 

09/16/2021

07/10/2021

Reef Dudes tried out NitraGuard to get their nitrates down ─ with success! Check out their review on YouTube!

Summer is here and it brought a heatwave! be sure you tank is ready to beat the heat. Today we are doing a waterbox 7225 update and talking about getting you...

04/16/2021

04/06/2021

Sand dollars at the Monterey Bay Aquarium: The term "sand dollar" is derived from the appearance of the skeletons of dead individuals after being washed ashore. They lack the velvet-like skin and have often been bleached white by sunlight. To beachcombers of the past, this looked like a large silver coin, such as the old Spanish dollar.

03/10/2021

Lionfish (Pterois volitans) have venomous spines. Anyone who keeps them knows to watch out for those painful spines and that these guys love nothing more than eating. They would do it all day if they could! That means they produce a lot of nitrate. We use NitraGuard Bio-cubes to reduce that nitrate and maintain their water quality while minimizing laborious water changes. Check it out in our store- link in bio- and DM us with any questions.

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03/05/2021

Friday! Finally!

Dwarf cuttlefish (Sepia bandensis) at the Vancouver Aquarium

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03/03/2021

Caulerpa prolifera, a macroalgae species with long blades.

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03/02/2021

The diptail pencilfish (Nannostomus eques) feeds on tiny invertebrates and other zooplankton.

 

02/26/2021

Happy from this upside-down catfish (Syndontis angelicus).

02/25/2021

Nanochromis splendens, a West African dwarf cichlid, with babies.

02/24/2021

The rose star (Crossaster papposus) has between 8 and 16 rays (but usually, it's exactly 11!) and can move at speeds of up to 70 cm per minute ─ pretty fast for a sea star!

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02/23/2021

Covering more than 20% of Brazil, the Cerrado is located in the highlands of Central Brazil, a vast tropical biome composed of savannas and grasslands amid humid and dry forests. Its hundreds of rivers, streams and waterfalls make a perfect home for tetras like these Hemigrammus sp.

02/19/2021

A friendly hello for from this striking blue ram (Mikrogeophagus ramirezi).

02/18/2021

Dendronephthya sp.
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02/15/2021

The wolffish (Hoplias malabaricus) is an impressive predator. Adults are ambush predators of fish; while juveniles prey consists of crustacean and other invertebrate prey.

🌎 Bonito, Brazil.

02/11/2021

Underwater photo of the cardinal tetra (Paracheirodon axelrodi) biotope display at the Vancouver Aquarium.

02/10/2021

A baby Urticina lofotensis in all its beauty ─ like a ripe strawberry ("strawberry anemone" is one of its common names). This picture was taken on a dive in British Columbia, Canada.

02/05/2021

Close-up of the face of a Leopard bush fish (Ctenopoma acutirostre) for !

"Ctenopoma" comes from the Ancient Greek words "kteís" (meaning comb), and "pôma" (meaning lid or cover), used here in reference to the operculum (bones that serve as a facial support structure and a protective covering for the gills).

Can you see the comb-like spikes on the operculum here? Males have more spines on the gill covers, and a roughly-textured area at the base of the caudal peduncle (the tapered region behind the dorsal and a**l fins where the caudal fin attaches to the body) that is absent in females.

02/03/2021

A male sockeye salmon (Oncorhynchus nerka); picture taken at Adam's River, British Columbia during the historic 2010 sockeye salmon run.

💡 Spawning adults develop dull-green heads; males develop a hump on the back. Both female and male turn red. Males also develop hook-like ‘type’ and prominent canine teet (as seen in this picture).

02/02/2021

Diamondback tritonia (Tritonia festiva), picture taken on a dive in British Columbia.

02/01/2021

The kelp forest exhibit at the Monterey Bay Aquarium feat. Macrocystis pyrifera (also giant kelp or giant bladder kelp).

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01/28/2021

Pachycerianthus fimbriatus (anemone) & well-disguised Dendronotus iris (nudibranch).

01/27/2021

A juvenile China rockfish (Sebastes nebulosus). They are a fascinating species: They give birth to live young, and members of this family are long-lived, with several species known to surpass 100 years of age.

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01/26/2021

Isaurus tuberculatus, photo by **er.

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01/26/2021

01/26/2021

01/25/2021

A beautiful wolf eel (Anarrhichthys ocellatus) doing his best to blend in.

🌎 Monterey Bay Aquarium

01/22/2021

Teleogramma depressum and its best "Is it Friday yet?" face. Yes. It is. It's :D

01/21/2021

Serpae tetra (Hyphessobrycon eques) show off their stunning, distinctive coloring.

🌎 Bonito, Brazil, South America

01/20/2021

─ Plainfin Midshipman (Porichthys notatus): This picture was taken during a research mission in British Columbia in the summer of 2015. Our sales manager worked with that project from 2011 to 2015.

Part of the study was to look at nest proximity (distance between nests). In this picture, the rock is overturned temporarily to collect data on the eggs and fry ─ a mixed brood of older larvae and ones with more yolk, and even some eggs, from different females. In the right habitat, nests can be just a couple of metres apart, like here at Crescent Beach in British Columbia, where this picture was taken.

(More: Aneesh P.H. Bose, Grant B. McClelland, Sigal Balshine, Cannibalism, competition, and costly care in the plainfin midshipman fish, Porichthys notatus, Behavioral Ecology, Volume 27, Issue 2, March-April 2016, Pages 628–636)

01/19/2021

A Red Rock Crab (Cancer productus) and its best Tuesday face, presumably.

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01/15/2021

Happy !

First discovered only in 2000, the tiny red pencilfish (Nannostomus mortenthaleri) lives in the small forest tributary streams of the Rio Nanay, Peru.

01/13/2021

It's again! This time, we show you the ventral view of a freshwater stingray (Potamotrygon sp.)

Stingrays have a complex mechanosensory ventral lateral line system that they use to sense pressure or vibration, an adaptation that enables them to detect the movements of their prey. Can you see those ca**ls, the almost transparent "loops"?

There are some differences in the ventral lateral line systems between the various species, and scentists are still trying to understand their effects.

01/08/2021

For , we present this adorable Madagascar Rainbowfish (Bedotia geayi) :D